Transcript

00:00:02

>> The Republican Speaker of the House on Wednesday was blunt when asked whether the President of the United States had the power to pardon himself.>> I don't know the technical answer to that question, but I think obviously the answer is he shouldn't and no one is above the law.

00:00:15

>> Trump has recently insisted that he does in fact have the power to clear himself of wrongdoing. And his legal team facing the Russia probe have referred to this power in a memo to investigators. Speaker Paul Ryan also pushed back on one of the President's unsubstantiated, claims that the FBI and the Department of Justice illegally spied on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

00:00:34

>> They had people infiltrating our campaign. Can you imagine?>> The President and his supporters have repeatedly made this claim without evidence.>> They now call it Spygate. You're calling it Spygate.>> The allegation emerged out of the revelations the FBI had opened an investigation into possible efforts by Russian intelligence to make contact with Trump campaign advisors.

00:00:55

But Trump and his allies have characterized this probe as the Obama administaton spying on him. His allies in congress even demanded and received a clasiffied briefing on the FBI probe. But one of the Republicans who emerged from that briefing, Representative Trey Gowdy, was quick to say the FBI acted correctly.

00:01:13

>> When the FBI comes into contact with information about what a foreign government may be doing in our election cycle? I think they have an obligation to run it out. Russia was the target and not the campaign.>> And on Wednesday the Republican House Speaker sided with Gowdy.

00:01:27

>> I have seen no evidence to the contrary of the initial assessment that Chairman Gowdy has made.>> Translation, Ryan says there is no Spygate. Despite dismisals from top Republicans in recent days, the President has continued to press his case. On Tuesday he tweeted comments made on a Fox Business news program, claiming they were running an operation to undermine a candidate for president of the US.